Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro to Reunite in The Irishman

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

Scorsese and DeNiro together again? That is movie geek gold. My son will lose his you-know-what. The news that the director closed a very big deal over the weekend is the topic of conversation in Cannes today. Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino have been attached to make the real life mobster movie The Irishman based on Frank Brandt's book "I Heard you Paint Houses" for a long time. The weekend deal was the key to get the show on the road. And starts the clock on some very high expectations. DeNiro and Scorsese, an aging star and the man who made him a star, two artists who made such amazing film history together over the years, reuniting at this later stage in life? That story is straight out of a movie itself.

DeNiro is going to play Frank Sheeran aka The Irishman, a high-ranking Teamster official who had ties to the Bufalino crime family. Sheeran, who died in 2003, made a death bed confession that he killed Jimmy Hoffa. He also claimed Hoffa had wanted John F. Kennedy killed. Adding Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel to the mix is pretty nifty too. Not sure who they'll play.Here's the lowdown on the book—

The first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran were, "I heard you paint houses." To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than twenty-five hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa. Sheeran learned to kill in the U.S. Army, where he saw an astonishing 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino. Eventually he would rise to a position of such prominence that in a RICO suit then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani would name him as one of only two non-Italians on a list of 26 top mob figures. When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, he did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself. Sheeran's important and fascinating story includes new information on other famous murders, and provides rare insight to a chapter in American history. Charles Brandt has written a page-turner that is destined to become a true crime classic.

I'm so excited I may have to tell you the story about the time Robert DeNiro came to meet a director at the Tales from the Crypt production offices where I was working at the time. I was given the simple task of ordering his lunch. That's a story for my other blog, Sim Carter: Past Tense, Perfect/Imperfect. I'll let you know if and when I post it.

Popular Posts

Updated 1/14/2019Congrats! You've just reached one of my most widely visited posts. I get it, lots of us want to hear what actors think about acting straight from their own lips. I've got a hunch if you find this post from 2013 interesting, you'll also find this year's more current video noteworthy too so I'm including it below. Cheers! Last Sunday I shared The Hollywood Reporter's Writers Roundtable, a lively discussion centered around the process and challenge of scripting stories for film, be it an original idea or adapting from another source. It was an interesting bunch of writers responsible for some of this years most talked about films including George Clooney and partner Grant Heslov (Monuments Men), Julie Delpey (Before Midnight), Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said), John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Danny Strong (Lee Daniel's The Butler). This week I want to share THR's Actors panel. Watch as Stephen Galloway, THR's longtime moderator, facilit…

I ran across a video essay that my fellow Big Little Lies fans are going to adore. It’s a fascinating look at the editing process and the tools and techniques that help director Jean Marc-Vallee tell the story, allowing the audience to get into the characters’ heads. “Editing is the psychological guidance of the spectator.’’

The video creator Mzak posits that Big Little Lies is all about gossip and peeping. The idea that there’s always someone watching. But you don’t need me to tell you what you’ll see for yourself in this skillfully done 14 minute piece. Watch!

Are you interested in these behind-the-scenes thought pieces? Would you like to see more? Lay it on me, I’m all ears.